How big is Italy? Size of the land, population & economy

Majestic mountains, crystal clear seas, pristine lakes, historical sites, and modern cities: the Italian peninsula truly contains a world in itself. However, the actual size of Italy might surprise you. How big is Italy?

Italy: key facts about this beautiful peninsula

The Italian peninsula, with its distinctive boot-like shape, can be easily considered one of the most geographically diverse and culturally rich countries in the world. Not for nothing, the Italian economy is quite reliant on tourism, with over 65 million foreign visitors exploring the country (2019).

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On top of the most touristic places, such as the Colosseum in Rome or the canals in Venice, Italy is also home to astonishing natural sites, such as the Terme di Saturnia in Tuscany, or the Dolomites in Northern Italy, which have recently been declared UNESCO’s natural heritage.

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Saturnia © Original italystart.com Photo

All this diversity makes it also difficult to pinpoint which is the best time of the year to visit the Belpaese

  • If you are an art lover and love to explore the most popular historical Italian cities, then consider booking your holidays during shoulder seasons (from early March to May, and from mid-September to November). 
  • If, on the other hand, you love all sorts of winter activities but don’t want to be stuck in the crowd, consider visiting northern Italy in the month of February, which is certainly the least busy time of the year. 
  • Similarly, early June or September are pretty quiet in most seaside places, and you can still enjoy the sun and good weather. 

In addition to its cultural and natural beauties, the Italian republic is also the third largest influential economical force in the European Union. Its economic size also makes Italy a prominent member of the G7 and G20 conferences (the inter-governmental meetings of the biggest economical and political powers in the world).

Here is an overview of the key facts about beautiful Italia.

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The major cities in Italy

Italian cities are renowned for their artistic and architectonic history, which tells the story of a country that has been for millennia (and in some aspects, still is) at the center of the world’s cultural and political landscape.

On the other hand, the country is also home to some of the most dynamic cities in the world, with Milan being a prime example of modernity and entrepreneurial energy.

As of 2022, Italy counts 2 cities with more than a million people (Rome and Milan), and 31 cities with between 100,000 and 1 million people. Additionally, 923 cities have between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants.

Best Rome (Travel) guides
Trevi in the early morning or during an epidemic © Original italystart.com Photo

The five main ones, in terms of the current population, are:

  • Rome: 2,780,000
  • Milan: 1,400,000
  • Naples: 940,000
  • Turin: 850,000
  • Palermo: 640,000

Even though the city of Rome hosts the largest number of inhabitants, the urban area of Milan is home to over 10 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in Italy.

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The Italian political system 

Italy has been the Parliamentary Republic since 1946, the year when a popular referendum abolished the monarchy and a constituent assembly was put in charge of drafting the new Italian constitution.

According to the Constitution, Italian elections are conducted every five years through a multi-party system and result in the election of the two houses of the Parliament (the legislative organs): the Camera dei Deputati and the Senato. Both of them have equal powers (‘perfect bicameralism’). The Prime Minister (Presidente del Consiglio) is the head of the Council of Ministers (the executive organ).

The third power (the juridical power) is independent, and in the hands of the Magistratura, a complex of independent bodies whose function is to decide disputes by applying the law.

how-big-is-italy
Sergio Mattarella has been Italy’s steadfast president since 2015 – Via: flickr.com | Presidencia de la República Mexicana

Finally, the Parliament is also responsible for the election of the Head of State (Presidente della Repubblica), whose main function is to preserve the unity of the country and represent it in front of international law. Therefore, he is at the vertex of the Italian tripartition of powers.

The Italian language and dialects

The official language spoken in Italy is, goes without saying, Italian. However, this is far from the only language spoken in the country.

Indeed, according to UNESCO research, there are currently more than 31 regional dialects actively spoken throughout the peninsula, with 32% of the population speaking both Italian and a regional idiom.

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These dialects can be seen as a reflection of the fragmentation of the Italian territory before its unification in 1861, and are therefore protected by the Italian constitution (art. 9) for their cultural significance.

Moreover, since 1999 Italian law recognizes and protects 12 linguistic communities (around 2.400.000 / 3.000.000 people), including those groups who speak albanian, french, croatian, ladino and german.

The Italian climate

Italy is blessed with a generally temperate climate (the maximum temperatures are never above 40° C, while the minimum ones are never below -10°C). 

However, it is possible to notice some significant regional variations; with the coastal areas experiencing hot summers and mild winters, the northern and central regions having a continental climate with colder winters, and the Po valley region a more humid, subtropical type of climate, with hot and humid summers.

Map of Italy

Italy is a peninsula extending from the Alps to the Ionian sea. Italy’s shape reminds that of a boot with Puglia as its heel. The total size of Italy is around 301,340 square kilometers, which makes it the 72nd largest country in the world.

How big is italy map
Via: Google Maps

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In addition, the Italian territory does also include several archipelagos and islands, the biggest ones being Sardinia (24.099 km²) and Sicily (25.832,55 km²).

Alghero
Now you can understand why the place is called Costa Paradiso (Sardinia) © Original italystart.com Photo

Italy borders four countries: France (in the north-west), Switzerland and Austria (north), and Slovenia (north-east), and is surrounded by four seas (Ionian, Adriatic, Ligurian and Tyrrhenian), all of which are sub-basins of the Mediterranean sea.

Moreover, it is crossed by two major mountain chains: the Alps, which extend horizontally in the northern part of the country, and the Apennines, which cut the Italian land vertically, from Liguria (in the north-west) to the Strait of Messina (between the eastern tip of Sicily and the western tip of Calabria). Together, mountains make up almost 40 percent of the Italian territory

Italy is also disseminated with more or less extended plains, which amounts to 23 percent of the Italian territory. The largest ones are the Pianura Padana (in Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont, and Emilia-Romagna) and the Tavoliere delle Puglie (in Apulia).

Related content: Read about the Tavoliere and other secret gems of Apulia

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The first one owes its name to the Po (in Latin, Padanus), the longest Italian river, whose waters allow for extensive agricultural production in the region.

Related content: Discover eleven other major rivers in Italy.

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Schematic map of the mentioned rivers © Original italystart.com Graphic based on Google Maps

Last but not least, Italy is also a country of lakes. Indeed, Italy can boast with more than 1000 lakes. The largest is Lago di Garda, whose waters border three different Italian regions (Lombardy, Veneto, and Trentino-Alto Adige).

Administrative map of Italy

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Italy as divided into 20 regions – Via: depositphotos.com | Volina

From an administrative point of view, the Italian territory is divided into 20 regions, five of which are called regioni a statuto speciale (regions with a special status), due to particular geographical and historical reasons. This means that they benefit from certain administrative, fiscal and legislative autonomies. These regions comprise the two major Italian islands (Sicily and Sardinia), as well as Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Valle d’Aosta, and Trentino-Alto Adige.

Moreover, the Italian territory is further divided into 107 provinces and 7,904 municipalities.

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Last but not least are two independent city-states inside the Italian territory: the enclave of San Marino, and the Holy See aka the Vatican. Both of them enjoy full political, legislative and economic independence (even though they have both adopted the euro as their official coin).

The question now is: how big is Italy?

How big is Italy?

Italy is an incredibly rich country, both in geographical, cultural, and demographic terms. But is this immaterial wealth reflected also in the economic size of Italy? And how big is Italy in geographical terms?

The geographic size of Italy

In terms of its geographic size, the peninsula is not so big.

Indeed, the total size of Italy is around 301,230 km² (1.155 km from the northernmost to the southernmost point, and 932 km from the westernmost to the easternmost point), of which 294.020 km² are land areas, and 7.210 km² of water surfaces (lakes, rivers and so on). Italy makes for just around 0.2 of the total world’s landmass.

How big is italy geographical size satellite
Via: flickr.com | NASA Johnson, CC-NC

This puts Italy as the 72nd largest country in the world, immediately followed by countries such as the United Kingdom and New Zealand, but preceded by Poland, Oman, and, perhaps surprisingly, Norway. 

To put these data into perspective, the U.S is around 32.5 times the total size of the Belpaese, with the latter having a total area that can be comprised of those of New Mexico and Arizona (Italy would be the fifth largest American state).

However, if Italy can be considered a relatively small state, its natural and geographical richness sure isn’t. Indeed, with 25 natural parks scattered all along the boot (accounting for a total of more than 15.000 km2), Italy is one of the European nations with the highest number of natural protected areas.

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In addition, Italy can count 70 vulcanos on its territories, most of which are underwater and reveal a modest activity. There are also 14 surface volcanoes, five of which (namely the Phlegraean Fields, the Vesuvius and the islands of Ischia, Etna and Stromboli) are still active.

SHORT FACTS ABOUT ITALIAN GEOGRAPHY

  • Including its islands, the total size of Italy’s coastline is over 8,000 kilometers (the fifth longest coastline in Europe)
  • With its height of around 4.810 m, the Mont Blanc (‘Monte Bianco’) is the highest mountain in Europe
  • The longest Italian river, the Po (652 km long), is the fifth longest river in Europe
  • Lampedusa and Lampione, two of the Pelagian Islands (Sicily) are technically located on the African continent
  • The territory of two Italian regions (Valle d’ Aosta and Trentino Alto-Adige) is made up of 100% mountains

The demographic size of Italy

With a population of 58.983.000 individuals (January 2022), Italy is respectively the 23rd and the third most populated country in the world and in the European Union, accounting for 0.84 of the global population.

If you take into consideration the population density, estimated at around 197 inhabitants per square kilometer (510/sq mi), you can quickly realize how Italy is one of the most densely populated Western European countries.

To have a better gauge, just think that Norway, which has a similar surface area to Italy, has a population density of just 15 inhabitants per square kilometer.

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Senior citizens at Lake Lesina (Apulia) © Original italystart.com Photo

At the same time, Italy has the second oldest population in the world on average after Japan. The averege Joe (‘Giovanni’) has an average age of 42 years old. One in 5 people are over 65 years of age.

This is a result of both sinking in birth rates (with 1.24 children per woman), and a longer expectancy of life (83.86 years). Unfortunately, this means also that the younger population will have an increasingly harder way to receive their well-deserved retirement.

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The total population is decreasing as a result. If the peak was reached in 2014, due to the large migration fluxes in the early 2000s, today the lower rates of migration (the net migration rate for Italy in 2021 was 2.155 per 1000 population, a 4.52% decline from 2020) cannot make for the low birthrates and high mortality rates (up to 10.7 per 1000 people, a number which is mainly due to an increase in the older strata of the population) registered in the country.

SHORT FACTS ABOUT THE ITALIAN DEMOGRAPHICAL COMPOSITION

  • Compared to March 2021, the growth in the number of employed people is 804,000 and in more than half of the cases it concerns term workers, whose estimate reaches 3,150,000
  • Italy has one of the lowest gender pay gaps in Europe (5.6 % compared to the European average of 13.8%). However, when taking into account factors such as the high number of female-dominated sectors where wages are below the average per capita GDP, the number of part-time workers (which is higher for women than men), and the number of women in management positions, the overall wage gap bounce to a concerning 43.7 percent out of a European average of 39 percent
  • The net migration rate in 2021 was 2.155 per 1000 population, a 4.52% decrease from the previous year
  • 82 % of the total population lives in urban areas
  • The two most common names for newborns in Italy are Sofia for girls and Leonardo for boys

The economic size of Italy

Italy is one of the most relevant economies in the world. Indeed, with a nominal GDP of $2.12 trillion, the country is the 8th largest economy and the 3rd among the European countries that have adopted Euro as their currency.

The country ranks then 33rd when it comes to per capita GDP, with $31,770 per citizen. This is slightly below the average per capita GDP across all European countries (€32,330).

However, what is truly concerning is the strong disparity in terms of per capita GDP between the North and South of Italy, with Trentino Alto-Adige ranking first with €39,759, and Calabria last with only €17,400. 

In terms of the most important sectors in the Italian economy, the services and manufacturing sectors account for almost three-quarters of the total domestic GDP.

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In addition, Italy host some of the oldest and most famous fashion brands, and therefore plays a relevant role in the global fashion market.

Finally, tourism and travels take on a huge share of the Italian GDP (9.1 % in 2021), with revenues amounting to almost 163 billion euros.

In conclusion…

Italy’s size might not be so big in a mere geographical sense, but it’s for sure a giant for its natural beauty and its cultural and historical heritage.

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To sum up

How big is Italy?

The total size of Italy is around 301,340 square kilometers, which makes it the 72nd largest country in the world.

How rich is Italy?

Italy is one of the most important economies in the world. Indeed, with a nominal GDP of $2.12 trillion, the country is the 8th largest economy.

How many inhabitants does Italy have?

With a population of 58.983.000 individuals (2022), Italy is respectively the 23rd and the 3rd most populated country in the world and in the European Union.

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